Call Centers

I was woken up at 3am this morning. Not by my alarm. Not by my children or my wife. But by a text message on my cellphone. The text was so urgent that it had to be sent at 3am. I woke up fearing the worst. And it was. The text went to my wife’s phone moments later. Both of us woke up and stared with disbelief. Here is the screen shot because, I just can’t…

Who the hell texts an advertisement to a random phone number at 3am? Not only that, but we are on the “Do Not Call List” and have been for years. DNCL is the best thing to ever happen to our society. Having the ability to block phone numbers on my cellphone is also handy. Sorry mom…

Of course, the rules for DNCL are able to be manipulated by businesses, although many don’t want to get a bad rep. If I get a call from a number that I don’t know, most of the time I’ll answer it. But if the person doesn’t respond immediately or I have to say “Hello?” a second time this hearing the computer click to an operator- I hang up and block the number.

Later on in the day I got my new credit card in the mail. (No, I’m not sharing a picture of it with my DOB plus the three numbers on the back). And I had to call to activate it. So, I did. I’ve done this dance a few times and I know the person on the other end is just doing their job. Today, “Nathan” answered my call and expressed his pleasure to assist me. I expressed my pleasure to be speaking with him and told him to call me “Josef.” He was clearly caught off guard and amused. He told me after verifying who I was (really? My date of birth and postal code and you know it’s me?) that I had to listen to a pre-recorded cardholder agreement. When it was over, I asked him to replay it because I wasn’t paying attention.

He did his spiels & after each one asking if I had any questions. So I asked what time it was. I asked him if he had the extended coverage. I told him I didn’t want it because I hate paying bills and that this was how the credit card companies nickel and dime me to death with interest rates and fees that I can “Cancel anytime” only I’d probably forget and keep paying it.

Yes, he was laughing throughout our interaction. I was monotone with my answers and ridiculous questions. I had him on speakerphone and was surfing the Internet while we spoke. It was a total of ten minutes of my day. I had no reason to have fun. Nor did I have any reason to be a jerk.

I decided that after this call was over, that I would call my cellphone provider about a deal they were advertising. Again, the call was brief but amusing as I spoke with “Amanda” about my cellphone plan. She was super pleasant and helpful, even telling me not to bother changing my plan since my current one is up in a month and at that point I can get a “Loyalty” plan(?) and a new cellphone. Score!

My day and hopefully theirs ended on a good note. All because I was nice and they were nice as well. They don’t have easy jobs. Sometimes I want to get angry at a situation, but it’s not the person answering the phone’s fault. Staying calm and having some fun is better than ruining someone’s day.

The Flamming Lips

If only I could text the telemarketers with humor to get rid of them. Except, that would only prove that their auto robot texting reached me. Those evil natured robots would share my number in the Matrix and I’d be bombarded with more early morning texts! Noooooo!